Suzette Standring: The power of touch

Suzette Martinez Standring

Monday

Nov 26, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 26, 2007 at 9:25 PM

The human touch is a powerful source of healing. Witness that when a child cries, our first impulse is to hug. We put our arms around grieving friends. After long absences, we embrace. Often, holding hands can convey much more than mere words.

The human touch is a powerful source of healing. Witness that when a child cries, our first impulse is to hug. We put our arms around grieving friends. After long absences, we embrace. Often, holding hands can convey much more than mere words.

Science has put its stamp of approval on touch. Premature infants who are gently stroked will gain weight faster than babies who are left alone in their incubators. Studies show that customers are more apt to leave a bigger tip if their waitress or waiter touched them.

In comparison to Italy or Puerto Rico, for example, the United States largely remains a "touchless” society. We are not comfortable with it. Massage, for example, remains a largely underused form of relaxation. Often those who have never had a massage are concerned about sexual arousal. This sadly indicates the only aspect many people associate with touch.

In the 1970s, “Therapeutic Touch” was developed by medical nurses Dora Kunz and Dolores Krieger, Ph.D., R.N as a form of patient care, based on the idea that the human body has an energy field. Therapeutic Touch, whether applied directly or from holding one’s hands just above a person’s skin, seemed to ease a patient’s anxiety, altered pain perception and encouraged recovery.

Another form of hands-on healing is the practice of Reiki. Japanese in origin Reiki holds that a “life force energy” flows through all of us, and can be transferred through the power of touch. Reiki has no religious affiliation, but it is a spiritual discipline because it is based on the belief that the energy that creates and sustains life comes from a divine power.

During a Reiki session, the practitioner’s hands are placed and held still on another person’s body as energy is imparted. People may report a feeling of warmth from the practitioner's hands. It can be an experience of comfort and reassurance. Sometimes during such a transfer of energy, surprising moments can surface.

Years ago, when I first moved to New England, a new friend discovered that I used to practice Reiki and wanted the experience. Claire was scheduled to undergo a mastectomy for breast cancer and to me, her request boiled down to this: She was frightened and needed to be touched.

During the hour that I placed my hands on her, I intuited a message from her chest area. I sensed it was saying, "You always hated us." It was an odd thought that bubbled up out of nowhere.

Later, when I told her this, Claire admitted to being ashamed of her breast size and had spent a lifetime harboring a negative body image.

Later that week, she told me she tried to make a conscious peace with her body before the surgery. Today, she remains in remission, nine years later.

Am I suggesting Reiki cured her? No, but fear and secret shame are toxic. The power of touch can be a mighty assist in our lifelong journey toward cleanup.

Massage, or Reiki or Therapeutic Touch by no means corner the market on the comfort found in the touch of human hands. How many of us still remember the way our mother caressed our face, or the sensation of dad's hand on our head?

If it hasn't been your habit to gently touch your family and friends, re-think your hesitation. Love and encouragement are alive in your very hands. A reassuring squeeze on the shoulder does, in fact, work wonders.

Suzette Martinez Standring is the author of “The Art of Column Writing: Insider Secrets from Art Buchwald, Dave Barry, Arianna Huffington, Pete Hamill and Other Great Columnists.” She lives near Boston. Her Web site is http://www.readsuzette.com or contact her at suzmar@comcast.net

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